Credit

Caption

Pelican nebula (IC 5067) gas pillars, infrared image. Dark regions of dust and gas are silhouetted against the bright emission nebula. These are sites of star formation, where embryonic stars are produced. These hot young stars ionise the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow red. The Pelican nebula is found some 1800 light years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus. Image obtained using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Canary Islands, as part of the IPHAS (The INT Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane) survey.